Embodiments of the present invention are generally directed to the area of alternative energy distribution, ownership, billing, or the like, and more specifically, to distributing alternatively generated power to one or more real estate development projects or areas.
Currently, energy costs have been escalating. A residence that is at least partially self-sufficient is a benefit both economically and environmentally. Often, alternative energy installations include unsightly equipment, but to tie the source to the residence, the equipment must be incorporated into the residence or co-located on the residence lot or real estate parcel.
Additionally, when an alternative energy generator installation is located on a home, its efficiency may be reduced because of surrounding buildings, topography, or the direction in which the home faces. To make such an installation efficient, it might also be necessary to deforest the lot. If a single story home having solar panels installed is surrounded by two story homes or trees, shadowing may occur which would reduce efficiency, or the roof sides may not face the best direction to accumulate the solar energy. The structure may also have to be modified to handle the additional load of the panels.
Additionally, neighbors often complain or seek to block the installation of alternative energy generators for aesthetic reasons, noise generated by certain types of systems, or the fear that such systems pose a health or safety hazard in the event of malfunction.
Maintenance may prove to be problematic due to the fact that solar panels are typically installed on a roof, which is high off of the ground and may prove hazardous. Installations of alternative energy generators are also typically financially separate from the structure in terms of mortgage, so that any expense would normally handled on less favorable terms than a mortgage loan. The cost of energy for the average consumer is largely driven by carbon based fuels. These same fuels are in decline and if they follow the law of supply and demand, will increase in price as they decline in abundance, increasing the cost of residing in a home.
Currently, the cost for energy is at an inflation adjusted high and is expected to remain high for the foreseeable future. This increase in cost has been escalating, and a hedge against its continued increase has been sought after.
In concert with the sharp rise in the cost of electricity, the values of homes have fallen over the last few years. As such, homeowners are very sensitive to the cost of energy associated with a home. If a residential homeowner could effectively purchase energy once, as part of the purchase of the home, his ongoing costs would be reduced or eliminated, and the value of the property, which would become energy and income producing, or income neutral with respect to energy costs, would increase. This decrease in follow-on energy costs would make a property more valuable for new developments, existing neighborhoods, and offsite cooperative energy farms.
There are multiple ways to distribute alternatively generated power to a real estate development. During construction of a subdivision, a developer could set aside a percentage of the land to build an alternative energy installation and include, in the cost of the home, rights to a percentage of the generated power that are permanently tied to the real estate purchased. This would allow the homebuilder to tout the subdivision as being “green” and include an ongoing supply of free energy. Additionally, many state and federal laws do or will require power utilities to purchase excess energy produced by alternative energy installations. These requirements add to the economic value of a given property or properties that include as a permanent, transferable feature a percentage of energy production from an alternative energy installation. Any excess energy produced and sold could be either paid as dividends, applied to real estate taxes, common area maintenance or improvements, homeowners' association dues, or used for alternative energy system maintenance.
A grid tied system is proposed as one embodiment in which the cooperative energy farm feeds directly into an energy grid and energy credits are allotted to each real estate owner whose property is entitled to the credit. In this way energy used on other parts of the grid are offset by the energy farm and only the net usage is charged. This system also reduces the load on the existing electrical grid, which increases the buffer that the utilities need. The real estate property owner would be credited for new kilowatt hours input to the power grid.
The hurdles of separate and complex installation and maintenance, separate expense from a mortgage payment, aesthetic limitations, and inefficiencies in layout mitigate against individual installation of alternative energy generators.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a method of combining the cooperative needs of homeowners to maximize the efficiency and concomitant economic benefit for distributing alternatively generated power to a real estate development, or stated another way, the association or linking of a cooperative energy farm to a specific residential property, such that a continuous renewable supply of electricity is sold with the property. More particularly, it is desirable to have a property that is at least partially self sufficient from an energy standpoint by virtue of the cooperative energy farm. This self-sufficiency would reduce the ongoing cost of owning the property and increase its net worth. This linkage of the real property and energy forms a hedge to mitigate the rising cost of energy and its effect on consumers, especially homeowners, and protects the homeowners from the depreciation of their real estate investment. The homeowner not only benefits from the normal appreciation tied to the ownership of the real estate, but also benefits from the rise in energy costs by making the value of the real estate increase because of the energy component.